Thursday, February 23, 2012

More Accusations Against Father Bob Poandl

Father Bob Poandl, 70, returned to Cincinnati Monday after an anonymous person came forward and charged Poandl with abuse nearly 30 years ago. Poandl had been serving in the Diocese of Savannah on and off since 2007, leaving in June 2009 after other abuse charges were levied against him in West Virginia. A judge dismissed those charges against the priest, and he returned to St. Christopher Church in Claxton with his record expunged in September 2010.

Poandl is not allowed to publicly function as a Catholic priest during the investigation process. Civil authorities have been notified of the anonymous allegation, as have bishops in the dioceses affected by the investigation, including the Diocese of Savannah where Father Poandl was serving.

27 comments:

  1. "Advocate group protests former Atlanta priest"

    http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16981756/midwest-couple-drives-to-georgia-to-protest-priest

    Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511
    "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.

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  2. My name is --- and my son, ---, was sexually molested by Bob Poandl in 1991. --- was only 10 years old when Bob Poandl, who had endeared himself to our family through our involvement in World Wide Marriage Encounter, stopped by our home and asked if he could take --- with him to West Va for a quick trip to cover a mass in Spencer West Va. That is where and when the abuse occurred.

    On the way back to Cincinnati Poandl spent 5 hours brainwashing ---, telling him over and over that being raped was ---'s sin and that his parents would never believe him. --- stayed silent and in pain for over 18 years.

    Telling the truth has given --- back his life.
    Every painful step of this process has brought healing to my son and to our family. I applaud you, another survivor of Poandl’s abuse, for your strength and courage. By coming forward you are helping other victims know that truth does heal. You and --- are my heroes.

    I pray for you every day. --- and our family offer our support to you and your family. Please contact us through SNAP if we can help.

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    Replies
    1. I am sorry for your pain, but these charges are made up by vengeful people...I have known Father Bob for over 31 years and no where in his DNA does this exist! This is all about money! Catholic priests are easy targets and, yes, there are many who are guilty but NOT this priest!

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    2. I agree with the post of March 13. I have known Fr. Bob for several years and even traveled to Europe on a religious pilgrimage with Fr. Bob and his lovely family. I will never believe that he is capable of these horrendous acts. It is so sad that innocent priests have their lives ruined by these evil accusations. I pray for all involved that the truth will come to light.

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    3. I really feel sorry for these folks who have posted that because they have known "Robert Poandl" (notice I did not use the title Father, as it would be an abomination to give this evil man that title) for years that he is innocent. Unless you can get into someones mind, you cannot know what they are thinking or capeable of doing. He has fooled you, he is an artist in deception. I can understand the fact that this is so horrific that you would not want to believe it and just put it out of your mind. I am a devout Roman Catholic and (as a jurror on this case) I went into this case knowing in my mind that he was innocent. Unless you were in the court room and had access to all of the evidence provided by both sides, you are not qualified to make a judgement in this case. You are however entitled to your opinion, and it is just that, an opinion. Being Catholic, I really wanted to believe he was innocent, but I could not turn my head away from the facts. I grew up Catholic (an alter boy for years and never molested) and I believe many priests have probably been falsely accused, but this case was true. Post mar. 24, no need to pray for me. Pray for yourself and the others that think this monster is innocent. Pray that God will give you the strength to pull your heads out of the sand. As for the June 2 post, "anonymus" is used for obvious reasons, so why did you post anonymous?

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  3. A third person is now accusing Poandl; he contacted me. I am the one who was abused in 1991. When it looked like he was going to prison, when the high-priced Cincinnati law firm was having difficulty protecting an obviously guilty man, the Glenmary's hired a former judge in West Virginia with political clout and the judge reversed his decision and required I get work, medical and psychiatric records going back to 1991. What I provided was deemed insufficient and the charge was dismissed. I was grilled by Anita Ashley in a pretrial hearing because of a discrepancy between the number of pages I was given in a medical record request and a request made by the defense team. In actuality, a private detective hired by the defense contacted the medical records department and instructed the clerk to put in records regarding hospital admissions that are not normally put in medical records requests. The clerk signed an affidavit noting this did occur and this was incorporated in an appeal. In a pretrial hearing, she insinuated that I was trying to hide something when she knew all along why there was a discrepancy. I was smeared in the West Virginia press. The Glenmary’s and the Catholic Church are vicious and fight dirty. My mother and I went to every doctor's office and put in medical records requests. I sent requests for employment records for every job that I have had since I was 16. I sent requests to a psychologist and a psychiatrist that I sought help from. And yet the judge squashed the appeal. The prosecutor in the case was younger than I and missed a deadline to have the evidence looked at by the State Supreme Court of West Virginia. He sent a letter to me letting me know about this and apologizing; the letter was poorly written and was filled with grammatical and spelling errors. The Glenmary's and the Catholic Church are powerful, wealthy and ruthless. Instead of trying to fix a serious ill in their church, they cover up and protect pedophiles. They vilify the victims as scam artists and assume they are lying and the priest must be protected. They dig up any dirt they can find on traumatized victims and use it as red herring arguments. All they care about is money. I only sought criminal charges not civil. I don't want their blood money. I am a Christian; I have often wondered if Poandl is. Is he an atheist or does he think going to confession and saying a few prayers of forgiveness makes it all better? There is a God; I hope Poandl sees what a sick and mendacious person he is every time he looks in the mirror. It was never about money... it was about justice and protecting other innocent children. Matthew 7:21-23 sums up what awaits Poandl in the afterlife: 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing your painful story of sex abuse by Poandl.

      These brave victims are to be commended for speaking up to expose the truth about their abuse by Fr Robert Poandl. This is not an easy thing to do.

      It is extremely rare that a child predator has only one or two victims, very often they have many. Hopefully if anyone has knowledge or may have been harmed by Father Bob Poandl, they will contact the police, no matter how long ago the abuse happened. The police are the proper officials to be investigating child sex crimes, not the Glenmary church officials, or the diocese church officials.

      Also keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.

      Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
      snapjudy@gmail.com
      "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
      http://www.snapnetwork.org/

      Delete
    2. Thank you for sharing your painful story of sex abuse by Poandl.

      These brave victims are to be commended for speaking up to expose the truth about their abuse by Fr Robert Poandl. This is not an easy thing to do.

      It is extremely rare that a child predator has only one or two victims, very often they have many. Hopefully if anyone has knowledge or may have been harmed by Father Bob Poandl, they will contact the police, no matter how long ago the abuse happened. The police are the proper officials to be investigating child sex crimes, not the Glenmary church officials, or the diocese church officials.

      Also keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.

      Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
      snapjudy@gmail.com
      "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
      http://www.snapnetwork.org/

      Delete
    3. Drop the name "anonymous" and perhaps you will have a shred of credibility. It was never about money is a pile of horse dump. Its always about money.

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    4. DH--who is the victim here, really? I note that you did not include your alleged crimes, for which you were facing jail time and probable loss of your pharmacist license for drug-related charges. It was exactly at this time that you suddenly "remembered" a sexual molestation that you claimed was the reason for every bad or immoral choice you made. Isn't that a little convenient?
      I am a rape survivor in therapy. I am an addict in recovery. But, I am NOT a coward who blames other people for mistakes I made because of my addiction. Addiction doesn't mean your a bad person, it means you are a person with a disease for which there is treatment.
      The problem here is that you chose more deception and manipulation rather than healing. And, in doing so, ruined an innocent man's life. "We are as sick as our secrets."
      I chose not to type your name, despite what you've done, especially because the demons and shame you deal with on a daily basis as a result of your deceit is punishment enough. However, only you can change this cycle and make the choice to finally do the right thing, and then the next right thing. You must start with telling the truth--that Father Bob Poandl never touched you innappropriately. if you suffered molestation, name the true perpetrator, as difficult as that may be for you and your family. aren't you tired of all the lies?
      Judy and so many others who judge innappropriately, you are woefully uninformed, and if you choose to remain so, ignorant.
      Good luck, DH. Only you can make this right, and free yourself in the process.

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  4. Something to keep in mind-

    Child predators are very cunning and manipulative. They know every trick on how to groom, threaten, lie, and put the fear of god into their victims and sometimes even their family members.

    They also appear to do a lot of good things, they can be very charismatic and you may think they would never harm a child. They have to be this way, in order to not get caught and to continue to abuse

    Sexual predators are often powerful and well-loved. It would be comforting if those who preyed on the vulnerable were obvious social misfits whose appearance would somehow set off alarm bells and give us the willies or the creeps. They rarely do. Usually, predators are among the last people we would suspect of sexually violating others. At a party, the predator isn't some oddball sitting alone in a corner because others feel uncomfortable with him. Most often, the predator is the guy throwing the party.

    We must overcome the dangerous myth that because someone is successful or warm or caring, he or she couldn't have done that!
    Also, we must stop thinking that because a man is old, that somehow he's automatically safe. It's just irresponsible to endanger kids by assuming an adult is harmless simply because he or she may be losing hair, wearing glasses, using hearing aids or walking with a cane. These can be signs of advancing age, but they are not signs that an individual is safe around kids.

    It is extremely rare that a child predator has only one victim. Hopefully if anyone has knowledge or may have been harmed by Fr Poandl, they will contact the police.

    Also keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.

    Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
    snapjudy@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you never second guess a single "victim" you meet. They seem to posses all the traits in the monsters you describe. Sadly, one reads up on a few cases, makes a claim and a priest is guilty in the court of public opinion instantly.......and those folks sit on the jury. I hope he enjoys the big payday he could never earn by working.

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  5. As someone who has spent many times alone with Fr. Poandl, I can honestly say that David I feel sorry for you. I'm sure you were abused but not by Fr. Poandl. Maybe it's because your own paarents abused and neglected you? Let's shed some light on your past. Just as much as Fr. Poandl's name is getting dragged through the mud ... so should yours.

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  6. I sincerely hope these accusations are false. I was looking up Father Bob to see where he is since I have not seen him in 13 years or so. He was so kind and I only have good memories of him. I don't know if he did or did not do these things, but if he did, I am heartbroken.

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  7. To anonymous from July 26, 2013.....these accusations are false. Please be assured that your good memories of him are a reflection of the kind, giving man he truly is. Please pray for Father Bob. And also pray for the "victim" that he gets the help he needs

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  8. And Judy, do you who else are cunning and manipulative? Addicts, like DH.

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  9. I don't understand the defense posed by you defenders of Fr. Poandl. "He didn't molest me...therefore he is innocent of molesting someone else!" Fr. P would have been a verrrry busy pedophile to have molested every child within his grasp.

    Accept the facts, this bum, was convicted after due process of law in which the bum had high-priced attorneys paid for by people who made sacrifices of their own to contribute to the Church. The donors never intended their sacrifices to be wasted on this pedophile priest or any other.

    Read the files released by the Archdiocese of Chicago, or the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, or the Archdiocese of Boston, or any of a dozen other dioceses. Pedophile priests are everywhere...in large numbers and they all seem to be protected by their Bishops and Archbishops.

    It is absolutely shocking to read the files from these Catholic dioceses and never to see a hint of concern for the children and families which are destroyed by these roman-collared bums! Yet, there is no end to the solicitous letters between offender and Chancery. Letters of praise for years of service and words of solace during incarceration for their crimes.

    I have seen first-hand the indifference to victims in my diocese (Pittsburgh) and the circling of wagons for the vilest creature I have ever known. Open your eyes, it is everywhere. Demand the opening of diocesan records and get rid of these bums!

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